Pours an almost opaque super dark crimson-brown with a foamy dark khaki head that settles to wisps of film on top of the beer. Tiny streaks of lace form around the glass on the drink down. Smell is of dark roasted malt, cocoa powder, earth, and very slight skunk aromas. Taste is much the same with char, cocoa powder, and earth flavors on the finish. There is a medium amount of roast bitterness on the palate with each sip. This beer has a lower level of carbonation with a slightly crisp mouthfeel. Overall, this is a pretty good beer with very earthy and char forward qualities that come across stronger in the flavors.

A: The beer is clear and very dark amber in color; some hints of carbonation are visible in the form of rising bubbles. It poured with little in the way of a head except for a ring of bubbles around the edge of the glass.S: There are moderate aromas of roasted malts in the nose.T: The taste is very similar to the smell and is filled with flavors of roasted malts and hints of caramel. The finish has some notes of bitterness.M: It feels light- to medium-bodied and a bit thin on the palate with a light amount of carbonation.D: The beer is very drinkable and quite sessionable because it doesn't have a high alcohol content and isn't very filling. (653 characters)

This brewery is kinda hit-or-miss isn't it. Expected a very nice, but simple and one-dimensional Porter, but the beer didn't reall live up to my expectations. The pour showed a lighter and more opaque hue than found in today's Porters-- somewhere between rich amber and brown. Though nice head retention, the beer also shows over carbonation and lack of protiens. The aroms confirmed the fear of part-grain character, though turns out more malted barley than the nose revealed. Along with a slightly better than average maltiness, the flavors also showed a moderate bready, lightly grainy, cola-like flavor that fell short of Brown Ale status. The feel was a bit too light, pushing the grain emphasis. Finished with that cola flavor and feel. Though the beer was not a disaster, I was expecting better in terms of rich chocolate, malty, richness and fuller, firmer body. (870 characters)

Bottle - Poured a translucent dark brew with absolutely no head and no carbonation. Aroma of toffee. Taste is a bit sweet, with some toffee and some bitterness. Im not sure if this is a bad bottle, but the lack of carbonation is very annoying and leaves a bad taste in my mouth. This beer also lacks a strong body and the chocolate/coffee taste should be more detectable. Overall, a very disappointing beer that I will try at least one more time to ensure that I didnt get a bad bottle. (490 characters)

This is an interesting porter; quite unlike any others I've had. Less opaque than I was expecting, more of a transparent brown in color. Minimal head, very fine carbonation. Somewhat thin-bodied, reminding me more of a schwarzbier than a porter. The nose is extremely sweet, like a chocolate malt milkshake or a mocha latte. The taste is somewhere between a brown ale and a modern porter. Not as roasted as I was expecting, this has a more moderate balance of roasted and unroasted malts - not exactly what I was expecting, but unique and definitely enjoyable. I'd recommend this entirely for the sake of trying a very unique beer. (631 characters)

Mahogany unless backlit, then its true nature is revealed. Crimson-infused walnut with orange highlights, crowned by a smallish ecru head that is reasonably persistent. Fine sticky lace ends up covering a fair portion of the glass. A good look.

The nose is of gently roasted dark malt and chocolate. Unfortunately, it isn't aromatic enough for any complexities to be evident. I'm guessing they aren't present at all, but I'll have to wait for taste bud submersion to be sure.

It's more flavorful than the nose let on, but not by much. Old-Style Porter, as I've come to learn, looks and tastes the way that classic porters should look and taste. That is, on the light side compared with most of the versions emanating from the U.S. My bias, however, is toward big beer and I much prefer those flavorful, full-bodied porters that straddle the line between stouts and porters. I like to call them storters.

The flavor profile consists of lightly roasted malt, weak chocolate and weaker coffee. Even though there's a minimal hop presence, a pleasant bitterness creeps in on the flinty, tending toward dry finish. The body is medium on first blush, thinning on the tail end of each mouthful, and the carbonation is below the radar. This is simple, straightforward, drinkable beer.

St. Peter's Old-Style Porter is a fine example of the classic porter style and is, no doubt, exactly what its brewers intended it to be. Since this is my review though, I can't ignore my big beer bias. As a result, I'll have to downgrade it just a tad. For those who like the English Porter style, this is pretty good stuff. (1,613 characters)

Poured more of rich tawny brown with not much head just a soapy-like semblence of one but the nice rich color made up for the lack of head,aroma was nutty with milk chocolate presence as well with just a touch of coffee.Taste is the same alot of nuttiness with an almost almond flavored coffee drink flavor to it,now I have a problem with the wateriness of this brew though really thin I think compared to American counterparts wich Iam used to.None the less this a easy drinking flavorful porter with a cool bottle I would buy again and will. (543 characters)

Taste: Roasty, coffee-toned malts with a surprisingly large dose of chocolate. A few oven-toasted almonds tossed in. Medium sweetness throughout. Very minor tough of sourish fruitiness. Rather hop character and bitterness. Finishes dry with a lingering taste of roasted malts.

Mouthfeel: Medium-thin body. Medium carbonation.

Drinkability: Just a tad light in the body, but otherwise a pleasant, easy-drinking porter. (674 characters)

A - Two fingers of light brown head on a dark amber-brown body. Good clarity and the rocky head leaves a nice layer of sticky lace after it settles to a 1/4 inch layer on the surface of the beer.

S - Bright, fruity apple aroma, along with caramel notes and a hint of dark chocolate.

T - Roasty chocolate/ coffee flavor dominates and coats the mouth and is supported by light flavors of malt and caramel. The flavor is pretty clean, with only a hint of fruitiness and the finish is full of bitter chocolate but does not linger.

A: The beer is a deep brown color, with a short off-white head that fades slowly and leaves a thick lace on the glass.

S: The aroma is of roasted malts, dark fruit, coffee and a touch of hops.

T: The taste starts out very malty with flavors of coffee and milk chocolate. There's a background flavor of dark fruit along with a mild sweetness. The hops presence is mild but complementary. The malt character is hearty and there's a good balance. The after-taste is slightly sweet.

D: Tasty, goes down easily, not too filling, mild kick, good representation of style, it's a good beer to session with if you're in the mood for the style, but there are other dark session beers that I would pick first. (842 characters)

Presentation: Green 1 pint .9 fl. oz. Old fashioned medicine style bottle with a quick blurb about the beer on the back label as well as a “best before” date.

Appearance: Nearly black in colour, more of a extremely dark brown, and still holding some ruby highlights. Pours rich creamy tan lace that leaves trail of web like stickiness.

Smell: Dark unsweetened chocolate or carob, light musty buttery yeast nose, lemony twang from the hops and some charcoal tie things up in the aroma.

Taste: Strong medium body, sturdy smoothness and a dryish mouth feel. Carbonation is mild and very appropriate. In your face coffee and carob flavour with a small and quick yet rounded sweetness. Hop bitterness flares in to a happy medium to bring a perfect balance. Earthy dry. Musty buttery yeast hits middle to end to add a lustful character to this ale, touch of astringentcy towards the end from the roasted malts to stop with a dry finish.

Notes: Old style porter to say the least, A blend of old and new beer. A very well structured beer with lots of flavour going on … a sharp cheddar and whole grain crackers pairs extremely well with this one. (1,168 characters)

One of the better UK ( I think) beers I had lately, will have to look further into the reviews to verify what's happening here. Wherever it comes from,I highly reccomend, could drink this all night. After a quick post from Jason I learned this is indeed from the UK, but there is a brewery by the same name in Australia. My search parameters were not very good... (772 characters)

A Stygian hued brew, with a short, but sweet, cream-colored head. Aroma is a delicious jolt of cocoa and coffee. I should put my face in this beer's nose every morning, in lieu of my regular pot of java! Other flavors add to the complex profile: molasses, dark rum, a hint of anise. Much more headiness in aroma than the typical porter. How does it taste? Rich, deep, full of texture. Surprisingly less bitter on palate than I'd expect from so dark an aroma. Very smooth. Full malt, just-right hops. This brew is a meal unto itself. Texture got a little thin at the end, don't know what happened there. But I liked it, I really liked it. Felt much different from the normal porter, or even the above average porter.
Thanks to Uglyradio! (737 characters)

Pours dark brown with a thin off-white head that stays around, though it doesn't quite cover the top fully as the drink progresses.

The smell is of roasted coffee, hints of chocolate, sweet malt and an underlying fruitiness.

The taste if of sweet dark grains with hints of roasted coffee and chocolate. A slight bit of charcoal is there, but doesn't give it too much smokiness. There is a touch of mustiness to it, especially as it progresses. The sweetness is balanced by an underlying lemony, earthy hop bitterness in the finish.

It has a creamy medium body. Pretty smooth with the help of some buttery diacetal.

Complex, but overly rich. A classic porter with a modern twist. Tasty and enjoyable. (711 characters)

The beer pours a translucent dark brown/ almost black color with a 1/4" creamy tan head that fades to lacing. The aroma is good. It has a rich malty scent that boasts of roasted, chocolate, and crystal malts. It has an intense toastey feel. The taste is decent. It has a rich and dry black malt flavor with a lingering grainy aftertaste. It has a nice chocolate flavor that would be enhanced it the mouthfeel were any better. The mouthfeel sucks. It is a full bodied beer with very low carbonation. This porter has good aroma and flavor, but because the mouthfeel is lacking, the drinkability suffers. It's one and done for me. (627 characters)

I have to cop to really having an affinity for the St. Peter's Brewery line of beers. It may have something to do with their flask-shaped bottles, but if the contents were no bueno, I would have eschewed their beers long before this. Face it, aesthetics will only get you so far. No, these are good, well-executed beers that are stylistically adherent.

From the (cask-shaped) bottle: "A blend of a mature old ale and a young light ale creates a porter of traditional character, dark in colour, complex in taste. Brewed with skill and patience in one of Britain's finest small breweries."; "Historical Notes [-] St. Peter's Brewery is located in a medieval hall in a remote and beautiful corner of Suffolk. There our beers begin their lives deep below the brewery with water drawn from a pure source - as it has been for over 700 years, essential for the full flavour and pure character of all St. Peter's beers."; "Our beautiful flask-shaped oval bottle is a faithful copy of one produced c. 1770 for Thomas Gerrard of Gibbstown, just across the Delaware River from Philadelphia. The original is now kept at St. Peter's Hall and is a rare example of an oval Eighteenth Century beer bottle."; [depicted -] St. Peter's Hall, circa 1280 AD".

Once I Pop!ped the cap, I was anxious to get started, so I employed a heavy-handed pour. This produced three fingers of dense, light-tan head with moderate retention that left great, sticky lacing in its wake. Nose was earthy, reminiscent of a root cellar or root vegetables. I also got anise, chocolate and light smoke. Oooh. Color was Dark Brown to Very Dark Brown (SRM = > 27, < 34) with NE-quality clarity and garnet highlights. Mouthfeel was medium-to-full, approaching, but not quite achieving creaminess. The taste was a riot of flavors - big on anise, some sweet chocolate, a little smoke. This was the kind of beer that I could really get behind! I always characterize myself as a self-avowed hophead, but I will try anything once. This was a perfect example of why one should keep an open mind. I am a big supporter of the brewery and until they let me down, I will champion their cause. The dictum on this site has been review to taste, not to style, but in this case, it tasted great and was stylistically spot-on. Finish was semi-sweet and very satisfying. The flavors all melded together beautifully and left me wishing for more. (2,384 characters)

Pretty well carbonated beer, a careful pour produces a three finger thick, darkish tan colored head in my 25cl tulip glass. The beer is a deep, dark brown / almost black colored brew, but it does show a brilliantly clear, dark ruby hue when held up to the light. The head has an impressive structure to it (dense and creamy), as it slowly subsides it forms some really neat structures as well as a dense lacing layer on the sides of my glass. The aroma has a nice fruitiness to it up front, but this takes on notes of over-ripe, almost soured fruit when you start to explore. There is a touch of nuttiness to the aroma and some light roasted notes as well as some toasted bread notes. There is also a faint mustiness here that mixes with the over-ripe fruit aromatics.

Fairly sweet tasting, but has an astringent, roast grain flavor to it that helps to balance this out. Flavors of cocoa powder, a touch of black coffee and black toast notes are noticeable all of which help to provide a sort of bitterness to balance the up front sweetness. Somewhat light bodied, enough to be quaffable, but not so much that this doesn't have a soft, viscous heft to it as it slides down the throat. The sweetness accents some light fruitiness that provides flavors of raisins, some berry flavors and perhaps a touch of fig-like notes.

Given that the roast character is not huge here, I am quite surprised how astringent and bitter the roast grain character comes off. Still this is a fairly tasty brew, it is just a bit out of balance. As the beer warms up a bit some of the astringent bitterness seems to mellow out a bit, though it is still there.

they get points added for a classy and very unusual bottle. This one poured very bark, allmost black with a very large head, that got me worried it had gone bad, no worries as the head dissipated to a fluffy off white crown. Left nice, well developed lacing. Malty, burnt grain nose. Tasty drinkable porter, burnt notes, chocolate, light coffee, good depth of flavor, very enjoyable with a steak and salad. I'm interested to now try the others in this line of brews. (466 characters)